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Garden
Showing the colors
The vibrant colors of coleus, a distant relative of mint, pack a visual wallop whether in massed plantings or isolated swatches of color.
By JOHN A. STARNES JR.
Published May 7, 2005
Does your landscape have a case of the blahs?
Treat yourself to a rainbow collection of coleus hybrids, and turn blah into wow.
Coleus, which is a distant relative of mint, is remarkably adaptable, truly perennial and can provide many years of psychedelic splendor. While their colors are richest and brightest in full sun and fertile mulched soil, coleus can inject jolts of color into shady nooks too.
Coleus is also easy to root from cuttings that have been stuck into damp sand or placed in a glass of water. You can get your favorite varieties and fill a bed in no time.
I always plant mine 3 to 4 inches deeper than they grew in their pots to ensure they come back from below the soil line after a freeze; having their roots in the cooler, damper soil, helps get them through the spring drought.
Coleus isn't fussy about soil, but before planting them, spread 50 pounds of cheap dog food nuggets over each 10 foot by 10 foot area, plus an inch of compost, oak leaves or alfalfa pellets; turn under, plant your coleus and water deeply; mulch with 3 to 4 inches of oak leaves or chipped wood mulch to suppress weeds and keep the soil moist and cool.
The only hard part about growing coleus is choosing one to grow. Select plants with frilly leaves or the old-fashioned varieties with serrated edges. Coleus comes in a wild array of reds and yellows, pinks and greens, and oranges and purples. If the colors alone don't impress, a spike of blue flowers occasionally appears (cut them off for bouquets to keep the plants bushy and tidy). Blue flowers atop a bed of yellow and burgundy coleus is a sight indeed.
Got color?
Grow coleus, and you surely will.
-- John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for Florida. He can be reached at johnastarnes@msn.com
[Last modified May 10, 2005, 14:02:01]
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